1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to machines and apparatuses for grinding, comminuting, shredding, or otherwise reducing the volume of waste materials such as brush, tree limbs, waste lumber, grass, dirt, stumps, logs, etc., and other waste such as sofas, chairs, and other refuse type materials.
The present invention more particularly relates to comminuting apparatuses of the type having a rotatable drum, tub, or vessel component within which a disk-like cutter component is rotated in a plane substantially parallel to the floor of the tub, drum or vessel to enable the material placed inside the drum, tub or vessel to come in contact with the disk like cutter component to cut, shred, tear, break, splinter, or otherwise reduce the volume of the material.
2. Description of the Related Art
The art to which the invention relates includes, for example, disk type bale shredders, comminuting apparatuses, and the like, but not conventional tub grinders that have a drum-like cutting element mounted horizontally and orthogonal to the planar surface of the bottom of the drum. In tub grinders only a portion of the cutting element protrudes up into the tub or vessel leaving the majority of the cutting element below the tub floor.
Most noteworthy of the art to which the invention relates, however, is U.S. Pat. No. 5,739,951 granted to Hughes for a comminuting apparatus. The Hughes patent discloses an apparatus which includes a tub that is rotated to induce circular motion to the material. Simultaneously, a disk position at the bottom of the tub is rotated, preferably in the opposite direction to the tub in a plane parallel to the tub bottom. The disk has independently adjustable teeth positioned thereon to impact the material in the tub at a variety of adjustable attack angles. A screening means in provided in the bottom of the tub to keep the material in the tub until it reaches a desired particle size, at which time the particles can leave the tub through the screening means and enter a collection chamber. The particles are removed from the collection chamber by being entrained in an air stream that passes adjacent to an opening in the collection chamber. The tub and disk are rotated by a pulley and belt arrangement that employs inflatable tires to rotate the tub and allow slippage between the tub and tires when the tub jams with material.
Another apparatus comprising the art to which the invention relates includes the apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,790,489 granted to Paul for a bale shredder. The Paul apparatus is a bale shredding apparatus including a stationary platform above which is positioned a rotatable bale-receiving tube. An aperture in the platform exposes a rotor which rotates about an axis parallel to and spaced from the axis of rotation of the tub, and the diameter of the rotor is substantially less than the diameter of the tub. Blades carried by the rotor co-act with the bale received by the tub to shred the material of the bale.
As mentioned above with respect to the Hughes device, both the Hughes and Paul references incorporate a drive means for the tub and the disk or rotor, respectively, that incorporates a drive tire and belting arrangement. The belting arrangement and drive wheels or tires act much like a pulley in that the drum, tube, and disk or rotor, are caused to rotate via the tension of the belting around an axles of the drive tire wherein a motor mechanism turns the drive wheel causing the belt, much like a pulley arrangement, to transfer the rotational torque to the component to be turned.
A significant drawback associated with this type of arrangement is the ability to jam the apparatus and cause the pulley-like wheel and belt arrangement to slip on the component being turned. Both of the aforementioned apparatuses, namely Hughes and Paul, tout the ability to slip as a significant improvement and advantage over the existing state-of-the-art at the time those inventions and patent applications were filed.
Until now, a device for grinding, or otherwise reducing the volume of the material placed within a grinder yet is capable of being constructed on a cost-efficient basis, incorporating a direct drive from a motor component, preferably a recycled rear axle assembly from a truck, which is also capable of having a gearing function so that the rotational speed of the grinding elements, such as a rotor, disk, grinder element may be positively controllably gear driven and throttled by virtue of a conventional transmission has not been invented.